Free Music Friday! Get a chilled-out jazz track from Victor Wooten

The soundtrack to "The Music Lesson" is set for a Sept. 20, 2011 release.

vixmerch.com

vixmerch.com

Sam McDonald

Victor Wooten is a fascinating guy. In addition to his role as four-time Grammy-winning bassist with Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, he runs music/nature camps for people who want to polish their chops while exploring the wonder of the natural world. Wooten is also an author.

In 2008, he published "The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music." In it, he explores the connection between music and enlightenment. "It's the story of a struggling young musician who wanted music to be his life, and who wanted his life to be great," a description on Amazon.com explains. "Then, from nowhere it seemed, a teacher arrived. Part musical genius, part philosopher, part eccentric wise man, the teacher would guide the young musician on a spiritual journey, and teach him that the gifts we get from music mirror those from life, and every movement, phrase, and chord has its own meaning...All you have to do is find the song inside."

Today's free track comes from a forthcoming soundtrack developed in conjunction with the audio book version of the work. It's a gentle, contempletive track -- one that seems to support the story's theme. It's very different from some of the white-hot, fretboard-slap-crazed soloing we heard from Wooten at last weekend's show in Portsmouth.

"Lesson Prelude" will be part of "The Music Lesson Soundtrack," set for a Sept. 20 release.